Healthy Living Division

CRC's Healthy Living Division provides treatment services for eating disorders and obesity, as well as any related emotional, social, or psychological issues. The goal of these programs is to return patients to their daily lives with the confidence, self-awareness, and coping skills necessary to make healthy lifestyle choices.

Eating Disorders

CRC Health Group's eating disorder programs set the standard of excellence in the treatment of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and other forms of disordered eating such as binge eating and compulsive overeating, as well as any co-occurring diagnoses. Adults and adolescents, both male and female, can choose from a wide spectrum of therapy options, including residential treatment, day treatment, and intensive outpatient treatment programs.

Our residential eating disorder facilities are located throughout the United States in welcoming, home-like settings with tranquil surroundings that are ideal for healing. Our expert staff consists of licensed professionals, including certified eating disorders specialists, doctors, nurses, therapists, dieticians, yoga instructors, and other healing arts specialists. Together, these professionals design a personalized treatment plan that incorporates psychological, medical, pharmacological, and nutritional therapies. Patients participate in therapeutic groups that cover menu planning and meal preparation, body image issues, fitness, art therapy, and spirituality, as well as traditional individual, group, and family counseling.

All of CRC's eating disorder programs are collaborative and patient-driven with an emphasis on recovery through awareness of one's relationship with self, with others, and with the environment. We provide a system of services that produce the lowest possible relapse rates, promoting healthy lifestyle choices and the tools necessary for long-term recovery.

Since recovery from an eating disorder is a lifelong process, CRC's programs offer continued support after formal treatment ends, using live, anonymous online support groups that are accessible worldwide. An experienced counselor hosts forums each week on topics designed to enhance each patient's quality of life. Throughout every stage of the treatment process, our patients receive constant support and encouragement from therapists and peers who understand the complexities of the recovery process.

Adolescent Weight Management

The Healthy Living Division of CRC Health operates adolescent weight loss camps and after-school programs, and the world's first and only year-round therapeutic boarding schools for overweight children, teens, and young adults. These programs - Wellspring Camps, Wellspring Community Programs, and Wellspring Academies - were designed by leading researchers and clinicians to maximize long-term, sustainable weight loss.

Wellspring's intensive clinical programs provide young people with the necessary tools, decision-making skills, and behavioral strategies to control their weight permanently. A distinguishing component of all of our programs is cognitive-behavioral therapy, used by master's and doctoral-level therapists to enhance each child's distress-tolerance skills, coping mechanisms, and ability to set goals and self-regulate.

Although our clients lose an average of 3-5 pounds per week and keep this weight off long-term, Wellspring's primary goal is to teach children, teens, young adults, and families how to live a healthy lifestyle. Personal trainers encourage at least 10,000 steps a day, introducing a variety of exciting physical activities and sports that children can realistically continue after transitioning home.

The Wellspring meal plan is simple, scientific, and sustainable, with an emphasis on low-fat, nutrient-dense foods. Children, teens, and young adults discover the way diet and exercise affect the human body, while learning how to order at restaurants, find nutritious foods in the grocery store, and cook using our award-winning recipes.

In order to ensure lasting results, our behavioral coaches work with each child's family throughout the program, and beyond. Through family workshops, educational courses, and family therapy sessions, the entire family learns how to make healthier choices and support their loved one as he/she works toward continued weight loss success. Our one-year aftercare program with online support from behavioral coaches and peers ensures that participants maintain their activity levels and improved eating habits long after formal treatment ends.

With weight loss programs located throughout the United States and in Australia and the United Kingdom, Wellspring has reached thousands of families, achieving some of the best results ever recorded for weight loss programs for children, adolescents, or adults. Wellspring's programs have been featured on Dateline NBC, the Today Show, CNN, CBS Evening News, and in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY. Our clients not only lose weight and have fun, but they also undergo a full body and mind transformation, emerging with greater self-confidence, self-awareness, and hope for the future.

Adult Weight Management

CRC's Healthy Living Division operates some of the world's most effective weight management programs for overweight and obese adults. Recognizing that weight loss and management is a complex behavioral and biological struggle, our comprehensive and intensive flagship program, Structure House, provides adults of all ages with the necessary tools to lose weight and keep it off long-term.

Starting with nutritious foods in appropriate portions, program nutritionists work one-on-one with clients to create satisfying and delicious meals that are low in calories, fat, sodium, and cholesterol. Through individual nutrition counseling, menu planning, private cooking lessons, restaurant outings, supermarket tours, and weekly cooking demonstrations, our clients learn how to make healthier choices at home, at restaurants, and on-the-go.

Our patients also learn that in combination with a healthy diet, a daily exercise routine, tailored to the individual's abilities and goals, can help them look, feel, and act more confident and energetic. Using top-of-the-line fitness equipment and classes designed to improve cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, muscle strength, and relaxation, our trained exercise specialists and certified personal trainers help patients develop a personalized plan they can maintain after they return home.

Even more important than a new diet and exercise regimen, we believe lasting weight loss requires a shift in mentality and a new relationship with food. Our master's and doctoral-level clinical staff helps patients uncover the emotional roots of their eating problems and find effective ways to deal with the triggers that cause over-eating. Because weight loss and maintenance efforts don't end when our clients return home, our therapists also oversee an extensive aftercare program that includes regular telephone sessions and support groups.

Our treatment professionals are published experts in their fields of obesity and obesity-related disorders. These proven experts have helped thousands of individuals from all 50 states and more than 35 countries successfully lose weight. Because of the impressive results we achieve, our adult weight loss programs have been featured on the Today Show and 60 Minutes, as well as in The New York Times, Associated Press, Glamour magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY.